Re-Animator: Dan Cain's Story
by JeffC FTW
Summary: Daniel Cain has a bright future ahead of him at Miskatonic Medical and is madly in love with Megan Halsey, daughter of the dean. But their perfect life is shattered when the bizarre Herbert West arrives on campus. Warning: gore, violence and lemons.
1. First Meetings and Secret Union

**Finally I got to publishing my first Re-Animator fic on this site I have been a longtime fan of. :) And it was quite the adventure to get used to the system, too. This follows the plot of the movie with a couple of twists along the way. I've loved Re-Animator for as long as I can remember now, and Jeffrey Combs is a big time idol of mine along with the other amazing people such as Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, the late great David Gale and the rest of the cast. Stuart Gordon is a magnificent director, Brian Yuzna a fabulous producer and on. So with that said, enjoy this first story I present to you.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own this material. The original story belongs to H.P. Lovecraft (which you will also see similar parts and references to, and this is told in Dan's POV like Lovecraft's unnamed narrator). And the movie plot belongs to its rightful owners. This is the first and only time I'll say it. To repeat it more than once in every chapter is personally a waste of time when it should be obvious, not to sound rude.**

Chapter One

First Meetings and Secret Union

Of little over the start of my third year at the Miskatonic University Medical School in Arkham, Massachusetts, I can speak of terror. Well, not terror in the beginning, because things have not always been so horrifying for me.

When I started school with my dream of being a doctor and saving lives at all costs, simply born in me from the very beginning, I concerned myself with only schoolwork and the patients in the emergency room who didn't deserve to lose their lives, and dating and loving the dean's daughter who is the best thing that ever happened to me in spite of everything. But it was in the middle of October that things began to take a turn for the worst that nearly cost everything I loved, as well as costing her what she loved as well.

It is of Herbert West, my roommate and friend in college I'm speaking of. This unimaginable horror began when he first set foot on campus grounds and at my doorstep, as well as generated by his "life work" which he had begun across the ocean in Switzerland. My girlfriend since the beginning of year one knew he was trouble the moment she laid her eyes on him and I didn't see until it was too late, costing the lives of her father and of Dr. Carl Hill, whom West loathed for some time and who I had a bad feeling of from the beginning every time I saw him looking at Megan for an extended period of time. Perhaps the latter's loss was the only one I would ever thank West for, but now that West has been gone and I'm living far from Miskatonic, I can't shake off that knowing fear of the past returning to haunt us both. That fear which started at the beginning of October of the third year of my course.

My name is Daniel Cain, and this is my story.

~o~

I first met Megan Halsey at the start of my first year. I remember seeing her at registration, just spotting her from a distance. She was a goddess, great form and all showed off in the soft white dress she wore then, soft blonde hair bobbing over her ears, blue eyes lively and full of life...and lips full and pink. I was never one to set on a single type of girl, and I'd never had a girlfriend in my life. As a kid, starting with kindergarten, I played nice with the other children and let them borrow toys when they asked, and it progressed to middle school when the boys began to develop "masculine" qualities, most tormenting the weaker guy with glasses to shine in front of the girls they wanted to please.

I was one of the big guys, but I never hit another kid just to make a girl smile. I was always focused on what I did best, wanted a life and happiness, but just because I had people smile and talk to me didn't mean I fit among them. Girls had been a problem and saw me as a tool to get what they wanted. I never saw it until too late when I would catch them talking or kissing another guy for me to see. So in high school, I stopped on girls altogether and was sure in college it would be the same.

But all of that changed when Meg walked up to me on registration day.

She was all smiles when she turned from a group of friends and her eyes met mine. I think my knees buckled because I don't remember feeling this way _ever_. I needed to know what it was about her that made me so weak at the knees, so I was too nervous to go and talk to her before she made the first move and came up to me.

"Hi," was the single word that came out of her mouth, and now I just fainted when I heard her voice. Too angelic for words. Plus when she stood in front of me, I could suddenly _smell_ her – red apples, white gardenias, roses, and orange flowers. Most bodily aromas turned me off, but this one _enchanted_ me as those eyes did. "I'm Meg. What's your name?"

"Dan," was all I could get out. I had no idea what her last name was at the time until her father walked up to us and introduced me to him.

"Ah, Mr. Cain. Nice to see you again. I see you met my daughter, Megan."

"I sure did, sir," I answered, surprise then coursing through my body. Damn it, I was talking _and_ drawn to the dean's daughter! I remember at the interview, Dr. Alan Halsey was very nice to me, but I'd learned he was _the_ last living Puritan of the world, and Puritans were known to be custom-ridden, intolerant and lacking perspective of the world underneath their shells of kindness and leniency. But I thought as long as I played the cards carefully and did what I came here for, I would be on Dean Halsey's good side. He was barely into elderly years, white-haired and scant lines of age showing in his face, but he looked like he only had a few years left of life that his daughter had to be around to make sure nothing happened to him.

"Megan, I think we should be going now," her father announced, giving me a quick smile before he started to lead her away, not long before another voice stopped them.

"Oh, Alan, good to see you again." This new face I remember reading amongst the staff as I was signing up with my father. He was also middle-aged, gray-haired and a sunken face like he'd taken a toll on himself. He accepted a handshake from the dean and smiled down at Megan. "Meg, beautiful as ever." I did not like the way he said that, but her father didn't seem to notice like I did. And then the other man's eyes landed on me. "Oh, who might this young man be?"

"Daniel Cain, Dr. Hill," I answered politely. This was the first time I met Dr. Carl Hill in person, and his neurology class I would be having. He was a well-known brain researcher, although I noticed the similarities between his theories and another scientist I recall reading about in school, a Dr. Hans Gruber who believed that the brain could survive an unlimited amount of time after death, but Carl Hill had a limit on it. "I believe I'm in your class, sir." I felt like an idiot for saying that, but it only made Meg and her father laugh; Hill managed only the slightest trace of a smile.

"I recall. In that case, I'll see you there, Mr. Cain." I had no idea if he was only forcing himself to be polite or if he really meant it. All I knew was that I had another person whose good side I needed to get on. Hill was also the university's grant donor; I knew for sure I needed that Wellman Scholarship as soon as I graduated.

Halsey then cleared his throat. "Um, Carl, we're having our grant meeting next month if you remember, so we..." He nodded for his daughter to agree with him. "...would love you to come to dinner with us."

Hill nodded briefly. "If I remember. One of you will have to remind me," he added with a little wink to Meg, who uttered a little nervous laugh in response. "And, Mr. Cain, nice to meet you, and I look forward to seeing you in class. We hardly have bright young minds who leave this school at the top. I hope you do better than that."

I watched him leave, wondering if he was just trying to scare me. But Halsey relaxed me with a gentle laugh. "Don't worry, Daniel, I know you will. I knew you had it in you the moment I laid my eyes on you. See you around, son." With that, he took his daughter by the arm and began to lead her away; however, she turned her head back and looked at me briefly, hooking me once more.

After that, I started seeing Meg Halsey around more often even though we didn't have any classes together. I knew her father wouldn't want her in a serious relationship, but I knew that I wanted her, already saw a perfect life with her from the beginning: my dream career as a doctor, married to her, living in a beautiful home with kids and a cat. The kindly dean as my father-in-law. Everything idyllic.

Meg went to the medical school where her father was dean because she wanted to be a physical therapist. She hated it when people lost their limbs and ability to function whether they were army men and women, or accident victims who barely survived. She didn't want to depend on anyone else but herself, but that didn't stop me from wanting to treat her like a princess. I always felt it my job to make the woman happy, but as it turned out, she wanted to do the same for me. Meg was the first person I felt in my life I truly could talk to.

~o~

For the next two years, we kept our relationship low-key because of her father. I have worked long and hard, so there were times we didn't see much of each other because I worked in the ER, and Dr. Hill wasn't a bad teacher, to be honest. But it seemed there were times we went through the same things time and time again without something new. And I wondered if Meg ever noticed those looks he would give her, but I didn't say anything because of how he and her father were so close. It sickened me that these things weren't taken seriously.

I was two years away from graduation when it came to us at the end of the year dance of our second year together. By then I couldn't wait any longer when I finally had gotten a hold of something I'd saved up for the last year while at the same time finally getting myself a house near the campus. I remember the figure-hugging, vivid blue sequined dress with the fishtail skirt, like she was a mermaid, when I found it in me to lean in and whisper to her. "Meg, we've been together for almost two years, but I feel like I've known you forever."

She stared at me through the flashing rainbow lights and let out a little sigh. "Dan, I know what you're going to ask me, and I don't –"

"Meg, please marry me."

She shook her head. "We can't just yet. Remember Daddy would want you to graduate first before taking this step?"

She was right; I should wait until graduation, but two years after the one coming up was a way off to me. I just loved her so much I couldn't wait any longer. "I know, but..." She cut me off with a finger to my lips before removing it and pecking her mouth on mine.

"But nothing. We wait for now. All good things can wait."

Everyone around us was still dancing, and I didn't see her father or Dr. Hill around, so I assumed it was safe to pull it out from my pocket and hold it out in front of her eyes. The ring was thick with nearly three hundred brilliant round diamonds into the surface, creating an effect of sheer shimmer. "Oh, Dan..." Bull's eye; now she was speechless. I grinned at her, knowing she couldn't say no now, but I was actually in no rush anytime soon; I just wanted us to be married soon before we finally broke the news to her father.

But then she had to break the moment short. "I still say we should wait. Like...a few months or so. I don't want Daddy to break us up," she said sadly.

I sighed with heavy sadness. More waiting and more distance from her than ever. I was never a patient man, but I had no choice really. So I put the ring back into my pocket and finished the rest of the night just holding my girlfriend close to me and leaning my face into her shoulder, wishing life wasn't so hard. I wished it was simple and clear even though I knew it was _never_ meant to be easy.

But then in the middle of August, luck blessed us when I was leaving work nearly late. Meg ran up to me since we had no classes in summer, and she dragged me to the local courthouse. I was confused before she told me we should legally get married so that her father wouldn't have to find out until we told him and decided to have a _real_ ceremony. It shocked me because I never thought her so reckless, and I still wanted her to have the big once-in-a-lifetime moment all brides dreamed of, and she surprised me again: she wanted to meet me late again tomorrow night for us to finally become one.

This was one hell of a big risk we were taking, but I couldn't be even more happier. I was finally getting married to the woman I loved. We met in the local park under a tree, and I didn't dress much except for my suit from the dance, but my bride left me speechless. The dress had been her mother's, she told me, the fabric chiffon fitted to her body and draping softly over her hips. The sleeves were delicate lace, the bodice and scalloped neck conveying romance that you would find only in fictional stories. Her hair was set with a headband bejeweled to the left side of the head with an intricate setting of vintage pearls and crystals. And finally, around her neck, was a strand of luminous pearls in pastel colors.

Megan...my Meg...words did her no justice when she joined me under the tree and we took our vows, sealing it all with a kiss under the starlight, more realistic than the stories.

There had been no witnesses; who had to be there besides God above us and ourselves? We could always have a do-over ceremony and no one else would find out our secret union tonight. Her father would know of our court paperwork legalizing our marriage, but I don't think he'd accept us for marrying in secret. I looked up at the sky with a little smile. "The night's still young," I told her. "You want to...?" I wanted to ask "consummate our marriage" right here, right now, and she nodded eagerly without letting me finish.

I reached behind her back, finding the buttons, and wondered how she got this on by herself. She grinned and answered, "Becca helped me." She had one of her friends do it for her; I panicked at the thought of word getting out at school and eventually reaching Halsey's ears, before she calmed me down. "She won't tell anyone, promise."

I'll admit, I was really nervous because I'd never done this before; she was, too. But she was smiling in assurance the whole time and kissed me, driving me to a frenzy where I could no longer wait and hurriedly finished the last of the buttons, then began to pull the dress down from the shoulders. I exposed her breasts to my eyes for the first time; gulping nervously, I reached up with my hand and trailed it over her shoulder, stopping above her left one. She shivered beneath my touch even when I moved further, her nipple hardening beneath my palm as I cupped her breast, the heavy flesh silky smooth. I felt myself twitch in my pants.

She moved to help me shed my jacket and unbuttoned my shirt, which I shred from my body, too, dropping them onto the grass. We weren't going to be here long, but we both still wanted this night to last while it could. Who knew when her father would wake to notice she was gone. By the time we were done undressing, we were both naked before each other's eyes for the first time. My skin shivered in the cool breeze of the summer night, mostly from seeing Meg for the first time; everything about her was as I imagined, from her perky breasts to her flat stomach, flared hips and toned legs, finally the soft dark blonde triangle between her legs. The languid heat in her eyes told me she loved what she was seeing of my body, which was, in a non-narcissistic way, muscled from years of working out and in the hospital trying to save lives. Now I couldn't wait anymore because the ache below my waist was needing to be anywhere but in the open air, so I moved over to kiss her again and pull her close; she wound one hand through my hair and the other on my shoulder, digging her nails into my skin so I could make the first move and lay her down on the grass.

"Oh, Dan...Dan, yes..." Meg gasped when I started at her collarbones and nibbled and licked, moving down to the valley between her breasts, then suckling them both and making her cry out and arch upward into my mouth. Down lower, I went to her navel within her soft stomach, then lower to kiss her nest...oh, God, she smelled amazing, but while she tasted equally amazing as I found the exquisite little pearl there and made her scream a little louder, I didn't want her to come so soon, so I raised my head up and my whole body into position to slowly enter her; the first time always hurt for a female, so I entered as slowly as I could, but she still cried out no matter how gentle I was, and I panicked for a second, stopping as soon as I was sheathed all the way into her. Then she bucked her hips against mine earnestly. "No, don't stop," she begged.

I grunted as I obeyed her wish and began the in and out rhythm I remembered learning somewhere I couldn't remember, but it was one of the key elements in these things. I knew that if I took it slow and gentle first, we would both be wanting more. I couldn't even describe how wonderful it felt to be doing this with my new wife under the starlight, out in open air and surrounded by park, enough for a person to take a late night stroll, but we both decided we didn't care. Meg wrapped her legs around my waist, begging me to go harder and faster, so I did. We continued on that way until we both found our release and screamed each other's names for the whole town to hear.

We both lay there, dazed and sweating, trying to catch each other's breaths and kissing, before we decided it was time to get dressed and get back home for our daily lives.

 **So one of the twists you saw is that Dan and Meg are already married, and in secret. ;D Thought it would make things even more romantic. Also, other stories I read before besides on this site before finally publishing didn't get the chance to explore their relationship that much. Or maybe if they did, I haven't come across yet.**

 **I should add that the inspiration for Dan's early life came from one of my favorite stories on the site, titled "Imago" by Tendo Rei. I didn't plagiarize, I promise, but it was promising and fit the ever kindhearted Daniel Cain. :')**

 **Meg's dress is the Lyla dress designed by Maggie Sottero, one of my favorite designers.**

 **Reviews are appreciated. :)**


	2. Herbert West, Roommate

**I have nothing to say for this chapter, but once again (and final time) I own nothing and am not making money off it. I don't like flames either because I'm supersensitive. Add in the fact that the name of this chapter as well as the rest to follow are also the same names borrowed from certain scenes of the DVD. Enjoy!**

Chapter Two

Herbert West, Roommate

Now it was early October, and Meg and I have been married secretly for two months without anyone finding out. Now I'm officially into my third year at medical school. Things had been looking up as of late. But in the ER was a completely different story.

So far I've saved as many patients as I could, but losing any one of them was a failure to them and to their loved ones. My boss, Dr. Harrod, constantly reminds me that I had a good heart but a waste of time because a good doctor knew when to stop; this happened whenever I would continue to apply CPR when it was finished, but I just couldn't let it end no matter what.

In the end, though, I would always give in whether I liked it or not and take the corpse to the morgue.

Today the latest was a victim of high blood pressure, a diabetic at most, and I was performing CPR, wasting the precious air out of my lungs while Dr. Harrod and the nurses were giving her oxygen and charging the pads. Harrod shouted at the slow nurse to hurry and apply the gel. "Let's go! I'm gonna zap her again."

"Sorry, Doctor," the nurse mumbled as she squeezed the tube.

I stood back and watched as Harrod placed the paddles on either side of the patient's chest and zapped her; the body flopped in response to the charge, but the lines were still flat. I didn't like it one bit; she couldn't go now, and I didn't care if I had to hear from my boss again about wasting my energy and precious time. She was about to call it quits when I stepped up and once again began to push down on the body's chest.

Harrod sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Cain, we have done everything we can for this woman. She hasn't responded." I ignored her and did one or two more pushes before she raised her voice an octave higher. "She's GONE."

Why does it always end like this? I stepped off the stool, my lungs burning and sweat pouring from my skin. My heartbeat didn't calm and neither was Dr. Harrod, ready to repeat what she said best. "Your optimism is touching, but a waste of time. A good doctor knows when to stop," she said coldly.

I sighed and wiped my sweaty hair out of my face. "Dr. Harrod, I..."

"Take her to the morgue."

One more trophy to bring where they would eventually be abandoned in the event of time. Time to time I would bring in burned victims, shooting victims, et cetera, in which their states were too horrible for their loved ones and the public to collect for burial. This one had no family, but she still didn't deserve it. I smiled at the faces I passed by on the way to the morgue downstairs, where Mace was at his desk playing the cards. "Hey, Mace, I got another one for you."

"They ain't locked," he answered. "Doc Hill's in the autopsy room." I couldn't help but laugh; just more exercise I needed, I thought sarcastically as I opened the doors myself. "Don't know why they keep locked doors around here. Nobody wants in...and ain't nobody getting out," the black guard who was one of my few real friends said with a big grin through his cigarette. I laughed again before taking the gurney into the morgue.

Dr. Hill paid me no mind over the latest body in his "next step" of research as I brought the body through the room to the restricted area where the other bodies were kept under lock. I was greeted by the horrible smell of rot as soon as I entered and had to hold my breath the whole time I brought the newest addition to the left space, barely avoiding the constantly falling out arm of a "meatball" who lost an arm and leg by the looks of it. All of these ones around me were in black garbage bags because that was what they were: trash for no more use.

The smell was getting too strong that I had to get out of there fast. I had been to the morgue many times before, but I could never get used to the rotten smell of bodies. This wasn't something that was a good example for others wanting to be like me.

I turned to see Dr. Hill using what looked like a laser drill into the corpse's brain...a _lobotomy drill._ Lobotomy was considered a wrong method in medicine and mental health in some countries, but nowadays throughout America, a lot of doctors would be able to use it, however Hill was trying to do here. Carl Hill actually wasn't a bad teacher all this time I've been a student, but I still had a bad feeling about him which I was beginning to think was mere assumption.

I'd been so distracted by the Q-tip to the hole drilled into the brain and drawing a sample when I jumped nearly out of my skin at the hand on my shoulder. I relaxed when I heard Dean Halsey's laugh. "I'm sorry, Dan, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized.

"No, it wasn't too bad, Dean Halsey," I said quickly. "I just didn't know anybody was here." I'd warmed up to him all this time that I actually began to believe this man would want me as his son-in-law one day. And then I heard a second voice beside me.

"You mean 'anybody' else." The man was dressed in a black suit and tie, with a white collared shirt underneath, all pressed and sharp. He would stand out among everyone else because I assumed he was a new student. His hair was polished, parted and dark brown, and his glasses were so large they actually made him look smarter. He was examining a fetal jar as though it fascinated him.

Halsey looked his way briefly before introducing us. "Dan, this is Herbert West. He'll be joining you in your third year. He was doing independent research in Switzerland with Dr. Gruber shortly before he died."

"Oh," was all I could say. Last spring, Dr. Gruber was said to have died by suicide by gouging his own eyes out, which remained a mystery to everyone who heard the story, even asked questions _why_ he did it. He'd been world famous and made great discoveries, so yeah, WHY did he kill himself? Maybe I could ask this...West guy right here...

"Mr. West, this is Daniel Cain, one of Miskatonic Medical's best young hopes for the future of medicine." But he didn't look all that interested; that smile he gave was brief and appeared forced. He even refused to accept my hand out to shake his!

"What were you researching?" I asked.

"Death," was all he said before he walked past me to look at the body on the table. Oh, well, already I could tell he wasn't going to act well around people.

"Oh, Alan." Hill had abandoned his work for the time being to greet his colleague. "We don't see you around here much anymore."

"Well, I was just showing our newest student, Herbert West, the not-so-grand tour." I still listened to the two men while at the same time staring at the back of the dark head of this new guy. The way he was eyeing the body and not interested in conversation was really weird. But I decided it was typical average genius, not interested in socialism. "This should interest you, Carl," Halsey continued. "He worked with Hans Gruber."

I noticed how Hill didn't answer, so I automatically assumed he must have known West somewhere. "Uh, Mr. West?" the dean said, getting his attention. West's head snapped up on alert, though turning halfway to let the older man know he was listening. "This is our eminent brain researcher and grant machine, Dr. Carl Hill."

The young man turned his whole body around with the slowness of a predator ready to pounce. I looked between him and Dr. Hill, noticing an instant animosity between them. "I know your work, Dr. Hill," West stated. "Quite well." It wasn't a compliment, either. "Your theory on the location of the will in the brain is..." His lips twitched as though struggling to hold laughter in. "...interesting." He was now back to serious. "Though derivative of Dr. Gruber's research in the early seventies. So derivative that in Europe, it is considered plagiarized. And your support of the twelve-minute limit of the life of the brain stem after death..."

" _Six_ –" Hill's teeth held in place. "– to twelve minutes, Mr., uh...?"

"West. Herbert West. Frankly, Dr., uh..." He returned the pretension of forgetting his name back onto him. "...Hill, your work on brain death is outdated."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Hill couldn't stand looking at this young man who had just insulted him, and Halsey looked like he was struggling to keep his cool. I, on the other hand, found myself under the scrutiny of this strange man who was looking at me with the precision of a scientist.

"Uh, Carl, while I remember. We were having our grant committee meeting Thursday. Megan and I would love it if you came to dinner."

Oh, that was right. I had to ask him to write me a letter of recommendation for the Wellman Scholarship. Perhaps I could do it now that he was here, only if it wasn't a bad time. But before I could talk, Hill was there. "Well, I'd love to, Alan. Looking forward to it. And, uh, looking forward to seeing you in class, Mr. West." But his tone was far from civil, and the hard-as-a-rock expression on West's face said so as well. Damn, now I was thinking about how this one was going to be trouble in the classroom from now on.

~o~

This day just couldn't be any better to partially make up for the loss I had earlier that day. Dean Halsey agreed to write me a letter of recommendation for the Wellman Scholarship, telling me I was fit for a prestigious honor and that it would do great things for my career. I couldn't agree more.

But there was still one issue to handle. Meg couldn't move into my home I'd bought because of her father, and I needed someone to share it with me since I couldn't handle the rent by myself. So far, I hadn't made enough to get a nicer home large enough with stairs, so I'd settled on a single floor structure that was still nice enough for two or more people.

I placed the sticky note on the board for the world to see. I wasn't expecting a response anytime soon, but I hoped someone would. It read:

 **APARTMENT TO SHARE:**

 **3rd Year Medical Student Needs Roommate**

 **Must be Quiet * Keep Regular Hours**

 **Contact: Dan Cain**

 **666 Darkmore Street**

 **555-8785**

I smiled to myself at my handiwork for the heck of it. But then I was surprised by a familiar perfect face who had waited all day for me as I waited all day for her. Megan sneaked out from the corner and kissed me for everyone to see, and I couldn't contain myself as I swept her up into my arms and kissed her long and passionate, not caring if her father or Hill saw, and dipped her over dancer-style as I bit into her neck, making her squeal and laughing, protesting no over and over until I stopped.

But later on that same night, I had her in my bed and screaming again; she'd had no homework that night, but she had to pretend to her father that she was coming over for a "study session" when it was actually husband and wife catching up for time they'd spent apart. As soon as it was over, I lifted my head up to see her post-coital expression that I was tempted to take her for a second time but knew it couldn't happen. So I settled on kissing her long enough to taste her before a black furball interrupted the moment and got our attention. "Aww, Rufus," I groaned, rolling off of my wife for her to sit up. "Thanks a lot, buddy." I'd picked Rufus up off the streets a few months before Meg and I married; he'd been tossed out there for no reason that I had to rescue him.

"I have to go," Meg announced, reaching for her panties. I had a sweet but brief glance of her butt before it was covered disappointingly, and grinned, reaching for her.

"No, stay."

"Daddy knows I'm here," she reminded, leaning in so her face was near mine.

"I don't care what Dean Halsey knows," I told her, even though I knew she was right; I leaned back into my warm, comfortable bed while she stood and began to dress up to go home.

"Be reasonable." Sadly, I couldn't see her pretty little breasts because her back was to me, and she was putting her bra on. "If I hadn't come home one night...just one night..." She didn't finish her sentence because she thought she knew what I knew she was going to say next. I scoffed.

"What's he going to do? Expel me? He's out of touch with the times."

"That's just the way he is," Meg stated matter-of-factly. By then she pulled her short sweater on and her jeans. "The world's last-living Puritan, remember? I have to abide by his rules because I still live with him."

And she was a grown woman now; why should she care what her father thought about her life? I groaned. "I really hate it." Hate not being able to spend more time with the woman I loved and had married. "I wish you would just move in with me." This was an old, tiresome argument that I knew would lead to _that_ next. She sighed and sat down at the foot of the bed to pull her socks and sneakers on, her back facing me.

"Dan, don't start that now, please. You know I can't live with one of Daddy's students."

"Not even when it is two people who love each other?" I tried with a little pout.

"Not even two people who love each other who married against one's father's rules." She turned around to face me then, leaning over. "Dan, on the day you graduate, we'll have a real wedding ceremony, and I promise you I'll help you and be with you as much as I can until then."

"Oh, back to square one."

She grinned. "Well, at least it gives me a chance to house-break you."

"Housebroken, is it?" So, now she's just going to simply play around with me until then? If that was what she wanted, then that was what she would get. I grinned and pulled the sheet over my head, pretending to play dead. She laughed, and I saw her silhouette through the sheet as I sat up with a howl like the dead in the movies and turned to the side of the bed in a stiff move and stood, teasing her on the way as she protested that she didn't like that. "There's not a jury in the world that would convict me, Doctor Dan!"

"Dan, no! Stop! I really have to go!" I heard the sound of the front door opening and her startled cry.

"What?" I pulled the sheet down to see what had stopped her, only to find a man standing right there on my doorstep. His eyes behind familiar large spectacles caused me to look down and see that my nude body was almost revealed to his eyes. "Oh, shit." I scrambled to cover myself up while Meg giggled and the man gave an amused twitching smile. "Hi, can I help you?" He held up in a slender, pale hand a familiar sticky note I'd posted on the hallway billboard of the school earlier. Finally, someone answered my prayers! "You're, uh, here about the apartment."

"Uh, yes." He was smiling, and looking at him more closely, I recognized him as the strange guy who had come from Germany or somewhere, who had insulted Dr. Hill's theories in front of him and Dean Halsey.

"Didn't we meet this morning? You're, uh..." Damn, why couldn't I remember his name? Thank God he answered.

"West. Herbert West."

"West." I quickly reached out to shake his hand, happy that he shook it this time. "Excuse me just one second." I turned and dashed back into the bedroom to pull my clothes back on; as soon as I returned, I saw that he was looking at Meg the same way he'd done to me earlier, and she lowered her eyes to the floor as though to escape the scrutiny.

"Uh, may I introduce my...girlfriend, Megan Halsey?" I couldn't tell him that we were already married because I didn't trust him with our "little" secret just yet.

He stared first at me and then at her. "Miss Halsey."

"Mr. West," she answered back, sounding a little nervous.

I took a quick look at my house, which was yet to be finished with the furnishings and arrangements. "I'm afraid the place is still kind of a mess, Mr. West..." I started, only for him to cut me off and walk forward.

"Oh...Herbert." Meg didn't seem to like his brisk manner, and well, neither did I, but if that was the way it was. We both followed him around in silence as he took in the sight of the house we might end up sharing.

"So, you've, uh, just come from Europe," I said, still unsure of where in Europe _exactly._ He turned back to me and gave me another brief smile.

"Switzerland."

"What was Dr. Gruber like? He was pretty famous."

"Yes, pretty famous. Does this building have a basement?"

I frowned at the sudden topic change, staring with Meg for a second before nodding and leading the way to the back door where the basement was on my left and the door's right, depending on the position. Why was he interested in the basement? I wondered this and knew Meg did, too, when we let him go first down the stairs. I did not like the way he said "Oh, yes" when he took in the spacious storage room. "Yes, I think this will be just fine." He turned and looked my way. "I have my things outside. Shall I move in now?"

Meg's jaw dropped right away before she closed it and turned to me. "Uh, look, I have to go." She lowered her voice even though West was standing right there, watching us, and could still hear her. "I think you and Mr. West have a lot to discuss before you decide anything..."

"Oh, I've decided." He eagerly reached into his coat pocket and pulled out what looked like the first month's rent. "You know, you'll never even know that I'm here, and here is the first of the month."

Meg decided she had enough. "Mr. West!"

He looked her way, his face looking as though he was trying to remain polite. "Miss Halsey?"

"You didn't say _why_ you left Switzerland." She turned back to me and gave me that "did you forget something?" look.

"Uh...there was no more I could learn there." There was something strange in his answer and hesitation, but I assumed perhaps because of his professor dying and being replaced by someone like Hill who was brilliant enough but couldn't teach anything new, it made sense for Herbert West to come to the states. "Do we...have a deal?" he asked, holding the bills out for me.

I saw Meg's "you got to be kidding me" expression, as well as Herbert still watching me expectantly. Well, what could I say? My own wife wouldn't move in with me because of her father, and my house needed another occupant to help with the rent. So I made the latter decision in accepting the money. "Done," I answered, tucking the bills into my shirt pocket.

Already I could tell Meg wouldn't like my new roommate because of the look she gave him when he smirked at her and echoed my word.

 **Yeah, Meg doesn't like the new roommate at all. I know a lot of you will say "too bad, you didn't want to move in with your hubby". But we can't be too mean, can we? She just can't get both her and Dan in trouble with her father. We can't exactly dislike Meg too much now, right? My attempts are to make her a little more likeable, which also comes up in my next Re-Animator story after this one.**


	3. Classroom Antics

**The scene in the classroom has always had me fangirl squealing, for obvious reasons, so for all you fangirls, don't be shy. (snickers and leaves you to enjoy)**

Chapter Three

Classroom Antics

Every time I was in Dr. Hill's classroom with about eight others – now it was ten of us altogether including Herbert West, whom Hill tried his best to avoid making eye contact with the whole time – he usually spoke in a carefully controlled but otherwise dull tone enough for some to fall asleep, but I was always one of the alert; I didn't have to speculate on whether West was, too.

Hill was speaking while I began to take notes. "You make the incision at the base of the skull," he said as he followed through on the act himself, the scalpel in his hand cutting through the dark hair and the skin underneath it, "cutting away enough of the fascia. And then you get your fingers in, grasping firmly with both hands, before you pull the skin forward and over the head." Any lighthearted person would faint at the sight as the skull was revealed for the whole classroom to see, but Hill softened it up with a little joke that made us all laugh...except West. "It's very much like peeling a large orange." He then picked up the bone saw.

"Once the skull is plainly visible, you take the bone saw and cut around the perimeter." He turned the buzzing saw on, and a much louder screech was heard as he sliced around the line where a bone flap would be made so he could get more contact with the brain. By the time he was finished, he set it down and announced as he exposed the goriest thing any first-year student would see and pass out from shock, "And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The human brain. Once the brain stem of an individual – I'm talking about the reticular activating system, heart regulations, respiratory center and so forth..." He set down the tool he'd used to loosen the brain for removal by hand. "...once these activities cease, the brain can only survive an additional six to twelve minutes. _Six_ to twelve minutes."

He was looking at West again when he said this, and I found myself looking at him; he sat next to me but a chair across so I couldn't read his face besides a mild shake of the head as he disagreed silently with what Dr. Hill, his superior professor, was saying in disregard to what his mentor, Dr. Gruber, taught him. Looked like Hill met a match who didn't want to stand in with the rest of the class, but I didn't like conflicts of any kind.

Hill held up the brain with both hands, the organ jiggling slightly and making a couple girls gag, as he finished before he was interrupted. "Until brain death brings about an irreversible conclusion."

That student to interrupt him was none other than Herbert West, who had held up his pencil before his face and broke it in half, the sound getting the attention of the other students as well. But he paid them no mind, instead gave Hill who knew what kind of look as he picked up another just to feign innocence. I sighed and rolled my eyes, relieved when Hill continued his lecture on about how a person in general life believed in an idyllic afterlife, praying for a miracle of some sort in medicine...

"Perhaps though..." he added, setting the brain down in the dish beside the corpse. "...it takes something else. Perhaps it takes desire. An obsessive desire. Perhaps it takes –" Once again, West broke his second pencil, shutting him up then, but it was the final straw based on the beyond fury in Hill's face. He took a few breaths to calm himself before speaking to the rest of the class.

"We will discuss the location of the will in the brain structure at another time." His voice rose by an octave. "Mr. West!"

"Yes, Doctor?" The insolence was there, undaunted.

"I suggest you get yourself a PEN!" Hill shouted before lowering his voice and beginning to snap his gloves off. "Class dismissed."

It seemed West wasn't going down without a fight; I saw this as I watched him with everyone else put his books down and storm up to stick his face into Hill's. "How can you teach such drivel?" he demanded. "These people are here to learn and you're closing their minds before they even have a chance!"

"What are you here for, Mr. West?" Hill sneered, turning to walk past him, but West wasn't finished.

"You know, you should have stolen more of Gruber's ideas, then at least you'd have ideas!"

"MR. WEST!" Hill's roar silenced him at once and left an echo in the classroom before another heavy silence filled it as the professor had conflicts with keeping his professional shell on as he fought with this rude new pupil in his own classroom, in front of the other students including myself. Then Hill finally spoke in a low snarl. "It's going to be a pleasure to fail you."

I watched him storm out, stunned. This was the first time I'd seen him be confronted and insulted by one of his own students; in college, it was mature now or never. But this one I found myself finally staring at, getting a blank look from him that silently asked me "What are you looking at?" before he walked past me and the others and out the door. I thought him so...significant. He had more to him than meets the eye, because why would he be so bold enough to insult Hill in his own classroom...and _why_ would Meg be so nerve-wracked about him?

~o~

It was finally Thursday,but I didn't even want to go to the grant dinner. It wasn't that I didn't want to spend the evening with Meg and her father; it was because I didn't want to be near Dr. Hill after the episode with West, my strange new roommate whom I barely see outside the classroom; well, he did mention I wouldn't know he was there or not. But that was beside the point.

I just didn't want Meg to be anywhere near Hill. And it began to grow the moment I arrived at the house with my heart just thundering. But after I rang the doorbell, I knew it would be her to answer. She was very sexy in her green sweater that actually hid her curves, but her dark jeans showed the legs and her ass off, which made me grin as soon as I walked through the house with her for her to grab her coat and say goodbye to her father and Dr. Hill. "Dean Halsey," I said with a nod and smile to the man who actually treated me like I was his own son; I remember how he seemed wary of me dating his daughter before he actually warmed up to me.

"Dr. Hill." The look he gave me was fixed and expressionless, his smile though forced once again. And his handshake was brief.

"Would you join us for a glass of wine?" Halsey asked kindly. I knew he wanted to talk more about the scholarship, but I also knew he would still write me a letter of recommendation. Looking down at Meg, she gave me a crack of a nervous grin and shook her head no. She wanted to get away from Hill, too.

"Actually, we have some work to do," I answered.

"Why don't you study here?" Hill asked, his eyes on me, and now I was shrinking to slip away with my wife to my house, where she'd been uneasy since Herbert West came along. Just to be away from this man in the room.

"Oh, I'll have her home soon, don't worry about it," I said quickly, hoping that I didn't sound too rushed.

Dr. Hill stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Well, then, one last toast, hm?" I wondered what now, before he picked up his wine glass and held it up to us. "To Meg." I held my breath, lowering my eyes to the ground, feeling her eyes on me before turning back to the man raising his glass to her. "My esteemed colleague's capable, beautiful, _loving_ daughter. The obsession of all who fall under her spell."

That last sentence brought my attention back onto him. Oh, no, he did not! I saw, from the corner of my eye, Meg's smile slowly fading away as she got a better look into the long one he was giving her, the one I always noticed he gave her whenever she was around. I decided to save the day and pick up Meg's unfinished wine glass and held it up. "I'll drink to that." So, it stopped there and I finally managed to get her away from Hill's watchful eyes.

However, Meg wasn't any more calm when I got her to the house, because while we were in the living room and she was more into her book, I decided that she could use some...relief. I leaned in to sniff her hair and skin, getting her attention and making her laugh. Bull's eye again, but then she put her hand against my chest and begged me to stop. What was I going to do to get her to relax tonight? "Okay, what is it?"

"I don't know! It's..." She stopped there and closed her book, setting it down before turning her whole body to me. "Look, it's not you, really. It's just...a lot of little things."

"Like what?" If this was about Hill and those creepy glances of his...

And then she surprised him. "Well, West is always in his room with the door closed. I mean, do you ever see him? Does he ever _eat?_ "

I sighed again. "I told you, he's a little cracked." Cracked, what a hell of a word of choice, and I couldn't agree more with what I'd seen of him to be honest. But then again, what came with these typical geniuses was privacy from the world, so I never bothered knocking on his door for anything.

Meg looked at me like she thought I was crazy. "He bothers you, too."

"No, don't be ridiculous."

"Rufus is terrified of him. When West comes in, he runs and hides."

Yeah, she was right. Rufus would catch the odd little man and run to hide somewhere as most cats would at strangers, but it was typical of him to run to a corner and a closet somewhere until the "scary person" was gone. "Rufus runs and hides all the time," I tried to reason with her. "It's standard cat activity."

She just never knew when to give up; sometimes I thought she drove me crazy, but it was one of the things I loved about her. "Yes, but not when we're together. Then he's all over us, trying to get your attention and –" She paused there. "Where is he? I haven't seen him since we got here."

I haven't seen Rufus since I got home myself, but as I said, it was normal for him to hide until he was ready to pounce...but on second thought, he usually made noise whenever Meg was around, which was what she said next. At that moment, I began to get the feeling that something wasn't right after all. Where was Rufus all this time? We decided to scout out the house.


	4. The Cat Tango

**My boyfriend has always hated a certain "cat in the fridge" scene, mostly because he owns a cat and loves him to death. I don't love animal death anymore than he does, either, but it's not like a real cat was murdered for real while filming.**

Chapter Four

The Cat Tango

So far, no sign of Rufus. I checked everywhere I could: every cupboard and under the kitchen sink, every closet and corner, even my room...until I heard Meg screaming my name, and I checked every room only to find that Meg was in _West's room_ – and the occupant himself finally arrived. I turned on the lights as soon as I came in. "What's the matter?"

Meg didn't answer me before West did, moving up to stick his scowling face into mine. "I thought I was renting a private room, Dan," he snapped.

I stared first at him and then at my wife whom I knew tended to poke her nose when she shouldn't. "Meg, what the hell are you doing in here?" She was about to answer before my rude roommate stepped in again.

"Would you please leave now?"

"Easy!" I ordered, getting tired of this already. I was about to take Meg out of here so we could continue to find my cat, before she turned back and pointed out the refrigerator that I first noticed West bring in when he moved in. I looked down to the opened door...

...and there was _Rufus_. Literally. Dead.

I think I stopped breathing because my heart stopped in its tracks.

My cat...my cat...in the fridge. I don't remember feeling much when I walked towards the fridge, feeling like I had an out-of-body experience. I paid no attention to West or Meg, only on my poor cat, wondering what happened to him and WHY West had his body in _HIS_ fridge. I finally managed to tear my eyes away from Rufus and saw Meg's eyes closed as she tried to keep herself from crying. West, however, gave no blink of a reaction. Not even when he answered my question.

"It was dead when I found it."

How could he sound so remorseless? I stood from the fridge and beside Meg, who turned her accusing eyes on him. "You killed him," she moaned. "He hated you."

I looked down at her and gave her the look that told her to hold it together, then to West whose face remained impassive as ever when he spoke. "It suffocated. It knocked the garbage over and got its head stuck in a jar." Meg gasped and turned her eyes from him to me, not believing this at all. I wasn't sure I believed it myself. "You weren't home, so I put it in there. I certainly didn't think you'd want to find it like that. I did not want to stink the place up." This was the first time I saw a slight trace of sympathy, or was he faking it? "I _was_ going to show you."

"You couldn't call or write a note?" I had just come home to find my cat missing only to find him dead in my housemate's refrigerator, and he couldn't even contact me right away?! How careless.

He gave me an angry look. "I was busy pushing bodies around, as you may well know. And what would a note say, Dan? 'Cat dead, details later'?" My anger was bubbling and threatening to explode with a vengeance. "I know you were fond of it." And Meg was even more voicing her thoughts than me, or rather screaming more of her accusations at him, even tried to hit him if I didn't interfere.

"You killed him! I _know_ you did!" She fixed her wild eyes on me, pleading with me to believe her on this, and I was tempted to. Why else would West have Rufus' carcass in here? "He KILLED him!"

"Besides, I do NOT like people in my room!" West snarled, looking like he was ready to hurt my wife himself.

"Alright, that's enough," I said angrily, leaving them both to pick up my cat for burial, or maybe put him in the garbage for now. The trash guys didn't come until Monday. Might as well stink up the whole neighborhood. I was just about to grab Rufus when I spotted something _very_ odd on the shelf below him: a glowing green vial of God knows what. It didn't look like something you would find everyday in the hospital, drug store, or anywhere. I picked it up and stood back to West, holding it out and demanding, "What the hell is _this_?"

He snatched it out of my hand. "That is _none_ of your business."

I gritted my teeth. "Yeah, I think it IS my business –" He stopped me with a finger in my face.

"Just as it is none of my business that you're married to Dean Halsey's daughter."

Oh, damn it, he knew. But how? I didn't know if I should care how or not; all I knew was that now that this...cat murderer and maker of whatever that green stuff was found out I'd secretly wed the dean's daughter and could very much use it against us both and my whole life. That meant Halsey could kill my scholarship _and_ my chances of the life I always dreamed of. And West was still hooking me with his hard face. "You know, I would not want to see a fellow student, especially one as promising as yourself, be thrown out of school and out of the profession on moral grounds."

I knew for sure now that I wanted this bastard out of my house – and tonight was the deadline; I didn't care if he had nowhere else to go. I just wanted him gone for this. "Well, I think Dr. Halsey just might understand..." I started, only to be shot down once again. This guy was _good,_ I'll give him that.

"Oh, do you? Well, you may well be right." His mouth curled into a sinister smile that made both Meg and I cringe together. "Are you sure you want to find out?"

~o~

What the hell was I thinking, letting that man into my house? I kept telling myself that for the rest of the night. Meg had gone home after telling me that she would check her father's file on Herbert West as soon as he was asleep; she was the only other one to have access to the dean's office. I knew that she was right that he killed Rufus, because if it was an accident, then why hadn't he notified me sooner?

I didn't sleep well that night because of a horrible dream I had that I can't even put into words, and as soon as I snapped from it, sweat pouring from my bare chest as I stared into the darkness that was my room, I couldn't remember what exactly it was, but now I wasn't sure if I awoke on my own time or this noise I heard that I didn't hear exactly to know what it was...until it came again.

It was a beastly yowl that had to be a cat's. Only it couldn't be...! Or was it?

I jumped out of bed and grabbed my robe/sleepshirt and my baseball bat since I wasn't licensed to own a gun for protection just yet. I closed my door behind me and looked around my house, seeing nothing but streetlights illuminating the unpacked boxes and furniture, nothing damaged. And nothing indicating whatever it was that made that noise. Then I heard it _again_ and immediately bolted to my unwanted roommate's room, knocking on his door. "West! West, did you hear that?" No answer from the other side. "West!"

Still no response. I was tempted to knock down the door and find him when I heard that horrible screech again...and I turned around to find that it was coming from the _basement_.

What the hell was that thing in the basement? I automatically assumed it was just a stray cat that got into the house somehow, but how would it get into the basement? I turned the knob only to find it locked from the inside. Was West down there? If he was, then I had no choice but to force my way in, and that was what I did. After three or four shoves of my body against the door, I finally managed it open only to fall down the flight of stairs in the process.

My whole body numbed and flared in pain by the time I was at the bottom, and the overhead sun light was swinging around so the room was in a flash of light and dark. But I heard the screeching again, and then West's cry of my name: "CAIN!"

He was jerking and swinging his body around as though trying to get something off of him; when he turned his back to me, I saw that he was, and it was none other than a _black cat_ clawing at his back, mauling it and tearing his white shirt. He failed to get the thing off himself, yelling at me to get out of here, but I wanted to swing my bat to get the beast off him, except with the way he was knocking his back into the setup of tubes and such on the table – which I recognized as _university property_ – until he was on the floor and his knees. "GET IT OFF OF ME!" he screamed at last, but before I found it in me to take a swing, he managed to pull the feline off and toss it away somewhere, where it vanished and hid elsewhere.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, but he scrambled and grabbed what looked like a club and slapped my hand away.

"Later!" was all he said before he jerked his head up to some shelves above his head when we both heard the same scurrying and knocking of paint pans over, and he whacked there numerous times before I heard another behind me, in the generators before it was gone again; under the stairs before we could reach it – damn, that thing could move! What the hell was it if it wasn't a cat? There was no way it could move _that_ fast, make such a demonic noise we heard each time it moved.

West and I moved slowly throughout the room, the swinging lamp and flashes of light making it harder and more tense as we searched for that thing, silence making it worse and the moment scarier, my heart pounding wildly...

...and then a buzz of black jumped into my face before I could blink, and I was thrown backwards, losing hold of my bat and hitting a pile of junk. Eventually the creature didn't maul me before I grabbed it and hauled it through the air and into the nearest wall I could, hearing a final yowl of pain before it made no more noise.

Standing, I saw blood remaining on the wall, some meats falling off where they stuck, and then my eyes landed on the crazy thing that had attacked West and I, and gasped inaudibly when I saw it.

 _RUFUS!_

"Oh..." was all I could get out. Rufus...how could it be Rufus? He was _dead!_ I turned behind me to look at West, who was staring first at me, unsure of what to say before his attention shifted to the dead cat. His expression changed altogether to total shock and pointed, crying out, "Look out!" I bolted around to the body again, wondering if it was alive again – but it remained dead and unmoving as it was.

My nerves jolted to angry frustration. What the hell was so funny about all of this? A laugh behind me made me turn back around to see West's face all stoned and smiley happy at this, his laughter getting crazier and crazier like that of a madman. I had no idea how to process all of this. How was Rufus alive when we'd found him _dead_ earlier this evening? Plus, why was he so animalistic and attacking us?

But most of all: why did West think all of this so funny? What had he brought into my house and my _life_?

~o~

"Well, it's really quite simple. All life is a physical and chemical process, correct?" West was saying as we sat at the "lab" table with Rufus' mangled corpse before us. "It stands to reason then, that if one could find extremely fresh specimens and recharge that chemical process, bang, we have re-animation."

I _was_ familiar with Haeckel's theory, so this wasn't new, and that was what I said before he countered back that his re-agent _was_. I was also well aware that three or four other re-agents existed, but so far none successful in what I'd seen...which I was still trying to believe what I'd seen. Or was I dreaming the whole thing? It _was_ still night, after all. Then I found myself looking down at Herbert's opened notebook. "Read," he ordered, eager and egotistical.

I barely read the words as I voiced them out loud, dull to the point of wanting to actually fall asleep. The feel of the paper proved that I wasn't sleeping. "'With various animating solutions, I have killed and brought to animated life a number of rabbits, guinea pigs, cats and dogs.'"

He cut me off. "I've broken the six to twelve barrier. I've _conquered_ brain death."

I still didn't know if I believed that a dead cat had really come back to life however what, but looking at West's face more closely, I saw he wasn't bluffing or bragging, but still...I forced myself to read on. "'With the higher animals and the consequently strengthen of solution, reaction has become more violent, and my research has become more difficult.'" By the time I was finished, I pushed the book back to him and put my face in my hand. I didn't know how to absorb all of this; tonight was crazy as it was.

"Which is why I need _you_ to help me."

My head snapped back up to him. I couldn't believe it; he was asking _me_ to help _him_ with this crazy re-animation shit? " _Help_ you?" I repeated, dumbfounded.

"You are the perfect person to assist me. You're hardworking, bright, people respect you...and you have access to certain authorities. Like bodies." Even though I remained stiff in my seat, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my lungs. Yeah, I had access to the morgue, but to use it for THIS?! I looked blankly at the still-open book for a few seconds before back up to him at the sound of his voice again, and the fiercely determined look on his face I did not like one bit.

"We can defeat death, Daniel. We can achieve every doctor's dream. You'll be famous...and live _lifetimes_."

I wondered if he ever did this on people; he didn't answer me right away, just looked around the room as though trying to decide whether or not to answer me. But when he did, he didn't give me the one I needed. "I've done all I can here. I'll need new lab space." I shook my head in disbelief and looked down. I could feel his eyes boring into me once more, trying to probe at my soul. "You _will_ help me." It wasn't a question, but it wasn't a request either, and I wasn't in for any of this.

"NO."

"Why? Because it's mad?"

I glared at him square. "No, because I don't believe you!" I yelled.

He gaped. "How can you say that? You've seen the results!" He gestured to Rufus. I shook my head.

"No, Rufus wasn't dead to begin with." To any other person, I'd be rambling. "You drugged him and reduced his vital signs; you lowered his body temperature. He couldn't have been dead."

"Do you agree that he's dead now?" To demonstrate, West picked up my cat and dropped him before repeating the question. I didn't answer; yes, obviously, but I didn't want to talk anymore. Without waiting for me, he stood and walked over to the fridge, pulling out another vial of that green stuff I saw in his room, filling a syringe. I gaped at him. And of course, he ignored my protests. "I'll show you, then you'll help me," he stated.

"No!"

"Yes, you will!" he rapped. "That is why I brought the infernal beast back to life in the first place." I said no more, just watched as he turned the cat over and injected it...

"In the brain?" I voiced.

"Of course," he answered as he pushed the bottom of the needle so the green fluid vanished into Rufus' body. Then Herbert moved to sit beside me. "Don't expect it to tango; it has a broken back." We watched in silence as the faint yowling began to escape the opened jaw, and the body began to twitch and writhe before my eyes. I gasped.

"God, why does it make that noise?" was the best I could ask.

West chuckled. "Birth is _always_ painful."

We watched it for a little while longer, the pained screeches and bony snaps getting to my ears...but at the same time, I knew then I wasn't having a nightmare. I had actually seen my cat brought back to life. "It was _dead_ ," I said to West as I turned to see his calm expression.

"Twice."

And then there was a scream behind us. We whipped around to see _Meg_ standing there, her hands to her cheeks as she beheld the sight of Rufus. "Oh, my God, it's him!" I jumped up and hurried to restrain her and keep her from getting anywhere near that thing I knew was no longer my cat because of its violent behavior.

"Baby, what are you doing here?" I asked as I led her away and up the stairs.

"What-what happened?" she managed as she held her breath before letting it out, trying to calm her heart down.

"It was incredible!" I said in spite of myself, then turned behind me to the back door and saw that it was morning already. Damn it, now I'm gonna have a bad day. "West has overcome physical death!"

She snapped back to it. "West! Dan, I tried calling but nobody answered, so I got worried." She took one hand in both hers, pleading with me to listen to her. "Last night, I went through Daddy's file. When West's professor Dr. Gruber in Switzerland died..." Meg paused to run her hand through her hair, her face tightening from a worrying brain. "..well, for hours afterwards, West...did things to the body; the police had to tear him away. For months afterwards, he was under psychiatric observation."

"I tried to save him." We hadn't heard him come up, so we both jumped. He looked up at me, disregarding my wife entirely. "You _will_ tell Dr. Halsey about this now, will you?"

"Damn right, we will!" Meg shouted, pointing her finger into his face. "And we'll have you expelled so fast your head will spin!"

"Alright, _I'll_ talk to him," I announced, getting Meg's horrified face and West's fixed one. She was afraid for me but didn't care that this man who conquered death would get in trouble, and I was caught in the middle. What West had done was illegal, but he'd also made a great breakthrough that Dean Halsey HAD to see what a genius he really was.

But there was still no actual telling until I told him myself.

 **Dun dun dun dun! Going to the dean is bad news. Also, thanks to one of the deleted scenes from the movie involving the discussion of Dr. Gruber's death.**


	5. Human Subjects

Chapter Five

Human Subjects

"Herbert West has effected re-animation in dead animal tissue."

I watched the dean carefully, a slow, tense silence passing between us as I anxiously waited. I was nervous as hell, but I'd taken such a risk in coming here because West wanted his genius to be known, but Meg tried to get me out of it. And I should have expected it; ironically enough, Dean Halsey gave me an unreadable expression, but his voice said otherwise. "Mr. Cain, I'm surprised."

He didn't believe me; why would he? But I _had_ to try and make him. "No, I've seen it. He brought a dead animal – a cat – back to life."

He gave off a sarcastic laugh that he now saw me as a student gone mad because I'd gone beyond the boundaries. "I hadn't expected such nonsense from you, Mr. Cain, but I should have guessed it when you took up with Mr. West." I sucked in a breath; he was calling me insane like he knew Herbert was from the start. But it made me wonder if he thought him so crazy, then why did he let him into this school to begin with? Perhaps it was because of his brilliant record in Switzerland before Hans Gruber died.

"I know he's unstable, but I've seen the results, and so has your daughter." Now I knew I should have kept my mouth shut and left Megan out of this. The look he gave me was at first shock before changing to impending fury.

"What have you been doing with my daughter?" His voice was low and dangerous.

I gulped. What was the point in lying to the dean when he was already knowing too much? I now knew I should have kept quiet. "She walked in on an experiment."

"You've involved Megan with your insanity?" Halsey seethed.

"I _never_ intended to involve her!" I protested.

He stood up from behind his desk and towered over me. "Tomorrow morning, you will submit to me a written apology for this entire affair. These experiments were clearly beyond the scope of your legitimate studies. They've obviously interfered with your ability to do your classwork." I internally gasped at the accusation, but before I could plead my case, he raised his voice. "If any equipment from the hospital or from the laboratories of Miskatonic University were involved in any of this unauthorized activity, criminal charges will be pressed. You will, in any case, have your student loan rescinded."

My heart stopped to the point of being permanent. "My _loan?_ But I won't be able to continue school." And that also meant I was forbidden from seeing his daughter – my WIFE – again. Her father would be able to find out if she ever found it in her to sneak out to meet with me anywhere outside the campus grounds.

"As for Mr. West..." Halsey put on his glasses and casually began writing something down, pretending nothing was happening. "...he needs submit no apology. You may tell him that he may continue his research without the impediment of an education. As of now, he is no longer a student of this university. Same goes to you."

The words were a mistake even before they left my mouth. "Sir, can we please just discuss this? I think you're being blind by your emotions."

"That will be all, Mr. Cain."

I sighed and stood. Now I knew my life was over; I'd lost my scholarship and chances of finishing school. But most of all, I'd lost the woman I loved all over an experiment. An _unauthorized_ experiment. "Don't take this out on Meg. She tried to stop me."

He angrily yanked off his glasses and glared at me until I finally saw no more point in arguing and left. "I said _that will be all_."

~o~

I don't even know how he went into asshole mode so suddenly. I feel like I don't know Dean Alan Halsey anymore. Maybe it had to do with Dr. Hill saying something to him; yeah, it made sense. He hated West, knew we lived together so he concocted a tale to get his colleague and father of Meg to believe him. I don't know what it was exactly, but I knew I had to do what I knew was right.

Or _was_ I doing the right thing?

Here I was, trespassing on school grounds to the morgue with my fellow expelled under the body sheet, his shoes removed to make it look like he was a corpse ready to be taken inside. I hoped word didn't get out to Mace that I was expelled, but if he did, oh God, we were in trouble. Each second that passed as I steered the heavy gurney with Herbert under the sheet, still as a corpse, but then Mace came into view. He looked up at me but gave no sign that he heard what happened. "They just keep on comin', huh?" he asked as he stood and unlocked the door for me. Then he came up to my side. "You ain't got my lunch under there, have you?" He began to lift the sheet up, and I panicked and stopped him.

"Yeah, one meatball run over by a semi," I lied, managing a little laugh.

His brown face scrunched up. "Ew! I lost my appetite," he said, laughing with me. "Are you gonna be around for awhile?" I nodded. "I might go fetch me some, uh, coffee."

"Take your time," I said as he walked away, silently hoping _oh God, please do that_. I steered the gurney inside as fast as I could, just wanting to get this over with. The morgue was dark, obviously, so I checked to see that Mace and no one else coming...but not for long.

"Meatball?" Herbert repeated my words in obvious distaste as he hurriedly put his shoes back on.

"Just put your shoes on," I said as I turned on the lights. The paranoia hit me like a thunderbolt. "Oh, damn, if we get caught..."

Herbert snorted. "Oh, well, what will they do? Embalm us?" He didn't care about anything besides what he wanted. He was so reckless and everything I wasn't. Once he was done tying the laces, he hopped off the gurney with his little black bag of re-agent in hand. "Let's go," he said as I led the way to the restricted door, opening it to cool air and stench, locking it behind us to make sure no one else came in; chances were slim to none. Herbert led the way to our right.

He read each name off the tag for which had no deformities or illnesses: everything from "burn victim" to my "meatball", to "shotgun wound to the head", then eventually "malpractice". I groaned. How were we going to find a fresh body this way? I started for the door, eventually deciding to give up before he stopped me.

"Wait!" I saw him at the latest arrival, which was covered with a gray sheet unlike the others. I hadn't been the one to bring it in, so I assumed my teacher Dr. Riley in the ER. He raised his flashlight to the tag. "Yes, I think you. He arrived early this evening, Dan. John Doe, apparently just dropped dead. No record of any damage. He's almost perfect."

I did not like the word "almost", even when I asked why. "Could be heart damage."

I took a look at the face I exposed. It was ironic how he resembled a certain actor from _Terminator,_ but now wasn't the time for this. And did he say _heart damage?_ That bothered me more. "Well, then let's just find another one."

"No, we do _not have time!_ " Herbert hissed before calming down. "All we need tonight is a specific conscious reaction. He's been dead for hours. Any evidence of re-animated consciousness will justify proceeding." He unzipped the black bag and pulled out the recorder, handing it to me. "Start the recorder." I just stared at it, dumbfounded, and he frowned at my hesitation, snapping, "Start the damn recorder!"

I scowled and took it. Pushy bastard. I started the entry. "October tenth."

"Age?" Herbert pressed as he took out a needle and the vial.

"Age: early twenties."

"Physical condition?"

I lifted the sheet up to show a perfect masculine body that a woman would die for, making me blush. "No deformities, appears to be in excellent physical condition. Cause of death..." I hesitated right there. "Um...what?"

By then, West had prepared the syringe and turned his attention from it to me. "Heart failure," he responded.

I nodded numbly. "Heart, uh, failure."

"Time's ten-thirty-three PM."

"Ten-thirty-three PM," I repeated, my voice faltering.

Herbert, syringe in hand, lifted the head of the unknown man up. "Fifteen CC's."

"Fifteen CC's of re-agent administered."

We waited for some time, me keeping track for him as we waited. And then he asked how much time elapsed. I looked at my watch. "Fifteen seconds."

He checked his in a way that told he expected sooner. "Something should have happened by now," he said in agitation.

I wanted to ask how long Dr. Gruber took to come back, since it made sense to me now that his teacher _was_ the first and only time he attempted re-animation and failed. I wanted to ask what went wrong before I heard the sound of a phone ringing. My heart suddenly exploded as I realized Dean Halsey knew we were here and told Dr. Harrod of what happened, asked her to page Mace and notify him. But as the moments passed, no answer. I assumed Mace was taking a long time with his coffee break than I realized, but even that didn't stop my past worries from returning. "Let's get out of here."

But Herbert wasn't so eager to leave; why should I expect him to agree with me? I turned back and, to my horror, saw him refilling the syringe. "Obviously, the human dosage factor is unknown. Increasing the dosage to twenty CC's of re-agent."

"Herbert, let's go!" I cried.

"NO!" he returned, repeating the process of to the top of the spinal cord before dropping the head back down. I watched the body with him, moving my flashlight in the dark, detecting for any signs of life restoration: fingers twitching...chest heaving up and down...lips moving...eyes opening... _anything_...!

But nothing happened. "Damn!" Herbert swore, furious at the failure.

I saw this as the final chance for us to get out. "We failed, now let's go! Someone could be coming any minute!" I made my way for the door.

West angrily slapped the shoulder of the corpse. " _He_ failed! Not I."

And then I heard the woman's voice through the overhead speakers on the other side of the thick steel door: _"Mr. Cain...Mr. Daniel Cain, please report to the Security Desk Level L."_

"Oh, God," I moaned. "Cover him up and let's go." When he didn't speed up, I snapped, "Let's go!"

"Alright!" he snapped back, just putting the tools back into place.

And then the thing happened next, wholly unexpected and in the dark we were in. There burst the most appalling and demonic succession of cries that we ever heard; there was no way it could be human as the thing we injected too many CC's into flailed up from its deathbed and began a horrible swirl of a dance, in the process picking up a gurney with a bagged body and tossing it before moving across the room and nearly slamming its body into the wall.

"Grab him!" West yelled, and we both ran to either side to grab an arm before it threw us off and began to move away, not long before Herbert yelled at the top of his lungs, "STOP!"

The monster actually froze, turned and faced us halfway, and my flashlight caught a horrible thing you would see in horror movies, stories and nightmares alike. "He listened to me!" Herbert said excitedly, but the description of the demon's face was the polar opposite. The veins were popping out from the face and neck, blood dripping over the chin to the point of covering it entirely. But the expression and eyes bore no trace of humanity, not even in its charge for us so he grabbed West and threw him into the corner.

And then I heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door: "Cain!" It was Dean Halsey! I was half happy we were saved, but at the same time, we would still be facing far more serious trouble. But my brain was overwhelmed with this creature from horror fantasy in the room with us more than security taking us in. I couldn't open the door, so I had to yell for Halsey to get help.

"Is West in there with you?!" he shouted back. "You're in a lot of trouble, the both of you!"

The monster charged then, but I ducked out of the way to where West was down after being thrown into the wall. I struggled to help him stand and get out of there...in time to see the zombie attacking Dean Halsey! Halsey was covered in blood, the door busted down; I knew the beast had superhuman strength to knock it down onto him, and now it had spun him around so Halsey's back was against the chalkboard...and had bitten off his last two fingers!

"NOOO!" I screamed, letting West go and running to where the demon threw the man who had kicked us both out of medical school – but he was also my wife's father and therefore my father-in-law when he didn't know it – to the opposite wall, now caught him and was slamming his body forcefully so he was limping. I tried to get the monster off my father-in-law, but it didn't budge; its only intention was to kill. I screamed at the top of my lungs for it to stop, but unlike Herbert, it didn't listen to me.

"Dan." Oh, speaking of which... "Look out," he said simply as he held up the bone saw and turned it on, advancing for his failure of re-animation and grabbed it away from Dean Halsey, who fell to the ground. Dead.

I watched with my stomach churning as West brought the bone saw in through the back of the monster's chest, the whirring blade piercing like a needle going through thread...a gory needle through meaty thread. I wanted to throw up, even more when Herbert threw down his first prize loss beside my unmoving father-in-law. I collapsed onto my hind as I watched him drag Halsey's body my way. "Dan, get the recorder!"

I couldn't move. I just couldn't. Herbert gave no complaints there, only pointed to the second-time-dead corpse there in the bloody mess made. Now we were destined to be caught now. "Did you see him? He _listened_ to me!" Herbert said excitedly. "He made a conscious act!"

"He heard you as an _animal_ would! Oh, you can't be serious..." How could he continue on as though nothing happened? Proceed like he wasn't affected like I was? I had just seen my wife's father get killed by a re-animated corpse that my roommate brought back, and _I_ played a role in it!

Herbert was nodding, but not in the way I wanted. "Hell, you may be right," he said; that, too, wasn't my expectation. "He probably had been dead too long. It wasn't fresh enough. We probably only revived the senses and instincts, so come on and help me with this!" I still couldn't move, so he snapped, "Would you just give me a hand here? He interrupted an important experiment in progress, but granted it _was_ an accident. But this is the FRESHEST body we can come across instead of killing one ourselves, and every moment we spend talking about it costs us results! Now will you give me a hand?!"

He noticed my shock and softened a little before moving up to me, abandoning Halsey's corpse for the moment. "Dan...we _can_ bring him back to life."

I thought about it for a moment. My biggest worry now was Halsey turning out like the one still on the gooey red floor, but he _was_ fresh enough, hadn't been dead long, so what else was there to risk any more trouble? I forced myself onto my feet and helped my partner pick up the heavy body to lay him on the surgical table.

 **Yeppers, we all know what is going to happen from there. Damn it, Dan, what were you thinking?! Your wife isn't going to be happy about this, and neither is her father.**


	6. The Lobotomized Dean

**So here comes the crucial point a certain secret obsession is exposed. West sure is a demented man, but that's why we all love him. I know I do. ;D Men like him are always so appealing. And what does this mean now for the once happy couple?**

Chapter Six

The Lobotomized Dean

I don't remember feeling much of anything other than shock and horror, but I think I _did_ anticipate the way Dr. Halsey came back no different than the first one. When he did, he grabbed my larynx and West's, trying to choke us both to death since he seemed to remember his last scene on Earth not long before Meg, his daughter, whom he recognized despite his new state, came in followed by Mace. West told him that, despite us both covered in blood, Halsey barged in while ranting, going mad and taking the bone saw to a random corpse and then attacking us both.

Meg was in a state of hysteria the whole time the police interrogated us, but eventually they accepted our side that Halsey went mad just like that, since the daughter was believed to just think her father was just simply angry, expelled us for no reason, so we were allowed to stay in school if we wanted, but that didn't make me feel any better. The memory of what happened was eating me alive to a point where I thought I would just die from it.

What had I _done?_

This was my fault, no matter how much I wanted to blame Herbert West for setting foot in our lives. I'd let him move in, but it was because my wife wouldn't, as I'd said before. And he'd killed Rufus and used him as an experiment; now he'd gotten me kicked out of school and my father-in-law killed and re-animated in an "accident". No deaths were accidental, but a second part of me said Halsey _was_ , because he walked in when he should never have. But still, he was a crazed zombie because I brought that man into the morgue for his...sick experiments.

Which was why I had gotten into the Halsey home, waiting for my heartbroken bride to come home; I knew deep down I would be the last person she wanted to see even though she never blamed me before for any of this. She was the one who wanted me to distance myself from West, which was exactly what I should have done in the first place.

I should just turn myself in, name Herbert West as the main ringleader. Keeping all of this a secret was so extensive it was eating me away. I had to tell Meg because she deserved to know the truth. It also meant risking our marriage.

I was at the dinner table, my head down in my hands, when I heard the front door open. Meg was home. I saw her come in and turn on the lights, and that was when I stood so she'd see me. And when she did, as I expected, she wasn't happy to see me. But to see her beautiful face so angry and tight broke my heart more than it was now. "What are you doing here?" she fumed.

"I've been waiting for you," I answered numbly, taking a couple steps forward, shaking. My face was still stinging from the purple bruise I got in the morgue. "I have to tell you."

She kept her face the same as it was. "What did you and West do to Daddy...to make him like that?" she asked, slowly and menacingly that I suddenly thought I didn't know my own wife anymore, either.

How could I start? "It was...it was horrible. I didn't..." Mean for it to happen, but that was too common and too weak. "Your father's not insane," I said finally. "He's dead."

Meg's face was frozen for a moment before it twisted and turned with her cries and her pounding her flat palms painfully against my chest. "No. _No._ You're insane; you're insane, NO!" she screamed furiously. I stopped her because my chest was getting bruised.

"You know it's true, Meg." I hated the way I said that, but I had no idea how else. "You know it is."

She fell to her knees, and I joined her. Her moaning continued, hurting my ears and heart more. "No...Daddy... _Daddy_..."

I wondered if she even wanted me to, but when I pushed her hair out of her face and touched her cheek briefly, she didn't flinch or push my hand away. "I'll tell you everything."

So I did, at the table when she lit the candles instead of turning on all the lights, and I made the tea simply because chamomile wouldn't all the way soothe the pain we were both feeling, but it did some miracle as I gave away everything that happened while Meg sat across from me with her knees drawn up to her chest and tears rolling down her cheeks: everything from how West successfully brought back a corpse and proved the theory of re-animation before it ended with her father. But then West killed it when I couldn't do it myself. That sort of labeled him a hero, but a hero wouldn't be doing horrible things like this, risking lives of others for their gain.

I still didn't know if I should still pursue this...quest of conquering death, not with what became of Dean Halsey. Not with my wife in tears and definitely mad at me for this. I looked her square, keeping my manliness and my dignity in check. "I'm going to turn myself in. But I need to see your father; I need to get proof."

Meg fixed me with that look she'd given me earlier. "He's dead, Dan. He's locked in Dr. Hill's office in a padded cell, smashing his bloody head against the walls."

My heart suddenly stopped there. Oh, God, if Hill had Halsey in his office, he could...I jumped out of my chair. "Come on, we got to go to him."

~o~

Dr. Carl Hill's office had a broken window that he probably didn't even bother repairing just yet; or maybe he assumed no one would ever break into his office when he wasn't around. The hours were over for him, but who knew when he'd be back. I unlocked the door from the outside, sticking my hand in through the opened crack and turned the lock out before removing my hand and opening the door. I just hoped security wouldn't come anytime.

We saw Halsey through the glass mirror; he wasn't doing any of the violent movements I'd seen earlier, and he wasn't in a straightjacket either. Instead, he was huddled in the corner, his back facing us, just docile, but I didn't know if it was his own will or if Hill...did something to him. "Has Dr. Hill examined your father?"

"Yes." Meg's answer was strangled. "He wanted to do exploratory surgery on him. He needed my signature."

Oh, shit. Now I was sure he would find out eventually. I had to get to work on searching the filing cabinets now before he came back. From top to bottom, I looked on, paying Meg no attention while knowing she was going to be spending her time watching her father through the glass window; I automatically assumed Halsey couldn't hear or see us because it was a one-way mirror.

By the time I was in the middle drawer of the cabinet, my hands stopped searching when they found a file on top, and my eyes read the label in bold capital letters by Hill's hand: **MEG**

 _Meg?_ He had a f-file on MEG? My heart skipped a beat or so when I opened it to find an article first:

 **MEGAN HALSEY VOTED SOPHOMORE SWEETHEART**

That wasn't all. I found some plaid napkins, detecting her scent, as well as a few photographs of her – one of her when she was barely past a toddler, another in teenage years in a tight tank top – and strands of blonde hair tied together in a light red string. I wanted to throw up when it dawned on me that Hill _lusted_ after _my Megan._

I closed the file, not wanting to see anymore. How long had he had _this?_ Before I could dwell on this further, I heard Meg scream my name.

She was in the same room her father was; what the _hell_ had she been thinking when she knew he was dangerous? But then I remembered that he knew his own daughter and wouldn't harm a hair on her, but what would he do to me? I ran to Meg's side when she cried, "Oh, my God, what has Hill done to him?" I abandoned her and knelt down beside a clearly panicked Halsey...and that was when I noticed the...bump at the top of the right side of his forehead. It looked like a laser drill, which could mean only one thing, and it made Meg cry more than she did earlier.

"Your father's been lobotomized."

~o~

I took Meg home right after that, and she was still crying; we didn't say much to each other, not that I expected it. It felt like we were drifting apart more than ever. I wasn't even sure how we would still be together because of all of this, even though I still wanted it to work, but how _could_ we?

I needed to speak to West and tell him it was over between us. I should man up and tell him I wanted nothing more to do with him and his sick experiments, that I wanted a normal life where I could actually be happy, be myself and keep everyone I love alive. I'd seen enough death at the hospital to last a lifetime, and to know I didn't need anymore with him. And besides that, conquering death was a wonderful dream, but nobody was ever able to fulfill it. Medical science never did the trick, and how could there be room for anyone alive with the resources we always had?

He wasn't upstairs, so I assumed he was in the basement. I did find him there, but he was scrambling up the stairs with his face of sheer panic, an unusual change. "My work!" he screamed. "MY WORK! It's gone!" He turned and ran back down to the fridge which was empty of the green serum. "He took my serum – ah, except for what I have upstairs!"

"Who? Wh-what happened here?" I stepped further in, having only a _slight_ idea who he was talking about.

"Hill," Herbert ground out, folding his arms across his chest. "Hill took my serum. My notes...everything!"

"Herbert, you're insane, now what happened?"

"I HAD TO KILL HIM!"

I stared at him, my anger for him returning just like that. "What? He's _dead?_ "

He had that look of guilt on his face like a child caught doing something he shouldn't have. "N-not anymore."

My temper thread snapped just like that, and before I knew what I was doing, I surged forward and shook him angrily, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and roaring, "No, Herbert! This has _gotta stop!_ ENOUGH IS _ENOUGH!_ "

He glared at me and shook me off. "Look, he knew what we did, knew Halsey was dead and tried to blackmail me like he did to Gruber. And he wanted _you_ to disappear."

I let him go, the information processing through my mind. Hill came here, already knew what I feared, and he tried to blackmail Herbert to get his work like he did to Dr. Gruber...and now Halsey with the lobotomy drill. "Oh, oh...that's why he did it to Halsey."

Herbert stared at me. "What? You've seen Halsey?"

"He lobotomized him," I answered. "So he could control him in case he ever tried to talk or tell somebody what happened."

"So he could protect _his_ discovery," West mused. "Very clever."

Now I knew I had to tell my wife all of this. Hill was killed and re-animated, now he was walking around with Herbert's re-agent, had Halsey under his control...and now I knew my suspicions about him and Meg confirmed. "I gotta tell Meg."

I started to go upstairs before Herbert's hand on me stopped me. I turned to meet his glower. "What does Meg have to do with this?"

Like he would care if I told him either way. "Hill's got this weird file on her. It's full of napkins and hair and photographs. I think he's..." I struggled to get it out. "...projected some sort of psychotic need onto her."

He burst into a fit of hysterical giggles as though he hadn't expected his rival to have a sick interest in Meg, my wife, and it made me sick that I had it in me to call him that. He was sick as Hill was. He stopped laughing and fixed me again. "Oh, I don't think so."

"Great, so what do we do now?"

"Well," West returned coolly, "we're the only ones who know the truth, yes? So...he'll have to come to us."

I was dumbstruck. How the hell would that work out? "You mean _after_ us."

 **Another extended scene from the DVD there, more thanks. :) Each time we see scenes that weren't in the movie before, we always know how it sucks because it's so good but still didn't make it to the movie. And also, you boys better hurry and save Meg!**


	7. More Passion, More Zombies

**The next chapter after this will be the conclusion, but this one has the climax in the morgue. Includes the infamous head giving scene, but not as detailed, though I'm sure some of you will still be sickened; that's the whole point.**

Chapter Seven

More Passion, More Zombies

I stood by the front door, my baseball bat in hand once again, while Herbert sat on the sofa reading a surgical textbook and laughing at something that I didn't even know was funny. I turned my attention from him to the door, peeking through the curtain to see if Hill's...headless body was coming along. West gave me the details that he'd removed the head from the shovel, experimenting that he'd never done "whole parts", and Hill was a success before knocking him out.

Yeah, successful at getting us into more trouble now. I turned my attention back to Herbert. "Are you sure he's coming?"

Herbert sighed and looked up from his book. "Yes," he said in agitation.

"Because if what you told me is true, he can hardly just _walk_ down the street."

"Perhaps not him, but somebody," he returned. " _Something_ will."

I gaped at him. "Are we just going to sit here then?"

"I _told_ you, I have a plan."

I shook my head and sat down beside him, slapping the fatter part of my bat into the palm of my hand, a mild sting shooting through my skin and nerves. "So do I."

Herbert sat up so we were even. "Now, Dan..." There we go, the brainiac of the couple going into excitement about the "progress" he made. "...he spoke _words_. Speech patterns the muscle controlled...you just wait and see yourself. You wait."

Just sitting here and waiting never solved anything. Not at all. For all I knew, we were live bait ready to be swallowed up by the big fish. "I still don't understand why come here." I looked up when West leaned in again.

"Because he wants the _credit._ " His mouth twitched amusingly. "Both of him." I didn't want to hear anymore of this; I'd had enough walking dead bodies that blurred fantasy and reality in one day and night to last me a lifetime. But Herbert wasn't letting this stop. "No, don't you see? We're the only ones that stand between him and his...obsessive desire." He scoffed when repeating the two words remembered all too well from class. I found myself staring at the file on Meg I'd recovered from the office when West went on. "Besides, he hates me. He's jealous."

The truth behind that dawned on me. No, it was more than just wanting fame and glory over a discovery that wasn't Hill's to begin with. Dropping the strands of Meg's hair back where it was, I bolted up and grabbed my jacket. "MEG!" Herbert looked up and frowned. "No, don't you see? It's not _us_ he wants; it's _HER!"_ I was out the door before he could say anything.

~o~

If Hill had already gotten to Meg, then I was too late, and I wouldn't know what to do next or where to look. I came to her house and the first thing I did, out of my panic, was bang on the door hard and fast as I could, not stopping until it was finally opened, and there stood the woman I loved, safe and sound. Happiness and relief washed over me as I took Meg into my arms and held her, not wanting to let her go. "Meg, thank God, I was so afraid."

She gently pushed away from me. "What is it?"

Her blues were curious but also empty and void – my fault on my part – as they searched me. What could I tell her now? Now that I was here, I didn't want to scare her by telling her straight out that Dr. Hill harbored a twisted obsession over her. "I was just...worried about you," I said instead.

"Why?"

"I...I just feel horrible about everything." I let out a humorless laugh. "I guess I'm just getting paranoid. It's just so hard to lose you. You're all I have left."

"What about West?" The way she said his name was pure venom come back.

I looked down to the ground. "I don't care anymore. I want us to get away from here, away from all of this. Transfer to another school, live our lives, start fresh."

I was expecting her to say I should be the one to leave, or that she should, so her answer took me by surprise, as well as her smile and the tears coming. She threw her arms around me and held me close to her. "I want that. Dan, I tried to hate you for this, but I can't. I wanted to say that I made a mistake getting married so soon, but I didn't."

I felt like crying; I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I managed, "I love you."

But then the door smashing open ruined it all, forcing us apart.

None other than _Dean Halsey,_ growling and charging like a monstrous simian, battered and unkempt as we remembered, and Meg screamed as she drew back. "No, Daddy!" I tried to get away from him as he made my way first; my shirt was grabbed and I was thrown backwards, my head hitting the wall and a pain shooting through my skull. My vision darkened, and I couldn't fight it back so I could save Meg from him, since I now knew that Hill had found his way back and sent the undead dean to retrieve the "object of his affections".

~o~

My head was pounding by the time I emerged from unconsciousness, and my vision was blurred, but my hearing was sharp and I could hear my name being called three times...and I recognized whose face was over mine.

"Come on," Herbert said as he helped me sit up. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut at the migraine I got, but he checked it like the doctor he was. "Oh, well, you'll be all right."

My head was the least of my worries. I jolted up when I noticed that my wife was nowhere to be found. "Meg! Oh, my God. Where, Herbert?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "He's at the hospital, I imagine. Can you stand up?" I managed without trouble, and I almost fell in my steps as we headed out to my car. I thought I would lose control, so I let Herbert take over for me. All I could think about on the way was going in there and getting Meg out of there from whatever Hill was going to do to her – or _what_ he was doing to her _now_. He was going to pay for this, and perhaps for once I should thank Herbert for killing him...but it still forced Hill to go after what he wanted most.

"Where you think he took her?" I asked once we parked my car in the lot, near the back and jumped out. By then my head was feeling better.

"To the morgue, where else?"

Smartass. Where else would Meg be besides the privacy of the morgue where hardly anyone went besides me? Halsey had to bring her in through an exit, because how else would he get in without getting the attention of everyone else around him? Covered in blood, his daughter unconscious in his arms?

Herbert and I got in undetected through the hospital, and thankfully the back door had been left unlocked because I don't think Hill was thinking wholly with his head in assuming that we wouldn't come to rescue the helpless damsel in distress; what a lame pun that was. Or maybe he _did_ plan it, and we were walking into a trap. He had stolen what Herbert had in the basement, plus he had his laser drill...but maybe there was a way to get out without exciting more trouble.

By the time we were in there, we were greeted by the sounds of Meg's screaming. Outrage and disgust coursed my veins when I peeked around the doorway and saw my wife on the table Hill had his cadavers for class during the day, _naked_ and being _kissed_ and _licked_ by Hill's SEVERED HEAD. And Halsey, her _father_ , stood by and did _nothing_ because Hill was controlling him. My stomach lurched; now I _HAD_ to get her out of there, because he was getting down lower and making her cry more, but thank God Herbert stopped him for me.

"I must say, Dr. Hill," he said, clearly disgusted as I was as he made his way around and past Halsey's frozen form, "I'm very disappointed in you. You steal the secret of life and death, and here you are trysting with a bubble-headed coed. You're not even a second-rate scientist." I saw this as my chance to sneak around and move to poor Meg, gladly avoiding Halsey who clearly couldn't do anything because he was under Hill's control. I didn't pay much attention to Herbert's early enthusiasm in which his enemy actually possessed intelligence higher than a whole re-animated human despite his head decapitated from his body. I undid the straps that held her down and then took my jacket off, throwing it over her, putting my finger to her lips to quiet her.

The whole time, I heard the conversation between Herbert and Hill. And Hill's voice was more...almost mechanical. Hissing like a snake. _"Ahhhh, Mr. Wesst, I am actually glad to see youuuu. It saves me the trouble of having to send for youuuu."_

Herbert scoffed. "You'll never get credit for _my_ discovery. Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow."

I'd removed my light blue collared shirt so I covered Meg's body to help her get over her humiliation for the time being, and by then we were standing there and watching the two debate. _"I wonder why an intelligent young man like yourself should make such a foolish, fatal mistake of coming here to challenge meeee."_

I stiffened, and I believe Herbert did, too. "Oh, I have a plan."

 _"So do IIIIIII..."_

And then it happened just like that, without warning or preparation. The body bags all around us came to life, bolting up and tearing apart like the creatures that were inside. Meg screamed and came closer to me so I could try and protect her. They were all horrible, like the zombies from the movies we were scared of as children; there was the burnt victim with the half-black body and one arm missing, an African American with all the tubes from his body – the one who died from a failed operation – another whose face was blown away by a shot, and so many others including the "meatball run over by a semi", and the obese woman whom I failed to save the day I met West. They all snarled viciously and came after us, blood dribbling down their chins like Halsey and the one that killed him.

They were so strong, I thought we wouldn't stand a chance. Meg was screaming the whole time she tried fighting them off, I began to get more afraid we were going to really die this way, but I learned a long time ago that fear got the best of you, and if you gave in to it, it destroyed you. I unleashed beast noises as I fought back my undead assailants, but by the time I was about to be overpowered when a handful of these monsters had me in their grasp, I heard Hill's command of "Enough!" and was dropped to the cold floor. I lay there because my body was bruised and numb in the limbs, but then I was turned over onto my back. Meg was over me, her face panicked as she tried to make sure I was all right, and I was, but there were still more coming at us – and West was now held down on the table Meg had been on, beside Hill's head now in the dish.

The latest making way for us was none other than Halsey back under control. Of course, it was me once more, and I ironically thought if he wasn't hypnotized, he'd have wanted to kill me of his own initiative because of what West and I did to him. "Daddy, listen to me!" Meg cried. "It's Megan, MEGAN!"

She was trying to reach out to him, but how could she when we were surrounded by so many zombies, and chances were her father wouldn't listen to her? "Hill, they'll kill her!" I yelled over to him, hoping with a small part that he'd get his minions to stop this.

But it was all in vain, just a fool's hope. "Then I'll give her life!" he returned.

"LOOK AT ME!" Meg's scream was all it took for her father to release me from his suffocating hold – I was on the verge of losing precious air when I was released. I watched as he shoved the others aside to save his daughter, who looked him on in amazement, and she ran to me just as he ran over to where Hill's headless body was drilling the laser into West's brain, attempting to make him like one of the creatures around us. Halsey fought like the beast he was now and threw the body aside before moving to Hill's head, head-butting him so Hill was dazed before doing the most horrendous thing I'd ever seen as I fought off the obese woman, whom Meg had placed a table in between us.

Halsey was literally _crushing_ Hill's skull in on both sides and gushing blood, popping the eyes out as Hill screamed in pain. The dead screamed with him at the pain in their brains as their leader was ravaged by hand. Herbert had by then regained himself and jumped back to watch the gory scene as my wife and I did. I saw this as our opportunity to escape if West hadn't stopped to get to his bag on the floor, filled with what he'd taken from his room. "Wait! I'm not through here!"

"You son of a bitch!" Meg screeched, moving for him and ready to kill him. I stopped her, grabbing her around the waist. She struggled. "Let me go!"

"I told you I have a theory!" West declared, holding up two syringes and advanced on Hill's headless body which was now trying to get Halsey to let go of Hill's crushing skull, dead by now. "OVERDOSE!" he yelled, jabbing the needles into the back of the body before snapping them off and following the squirming, violently quivering body around. The other re-animated around us had no control anymore, unable to function on their own now that their leader's head was crushed and thrown out through the opened front door to the morgue. Mace had to be out there to see, and he had to have gone to call the police. We needed to leave NOW.

If only one of the bodies hadn't knocked down a jar of noxious gas that was beginning to fill the room...and there was Herbert on the floor, his whole body wrapped in a pale, thick intestine protruding from Hill's headless body, super-charged by two extra doses. I had to save him; I might not wholly agree with him on his ideas, but he didn't deserve to die. " _Herbert!_ " I yelled, trying to reach for him, but his bloodied hands and the poisonous gas closing my lungs off made it hard that I had to get away and live just for my wife, who was there for me once again and pulled me away from Herbert, whom I knew would die here.

"Look out!" Meg shrieked as one of the nude female bodies, not the obese one, came for us only to be stopped by her father. It was a matter of time before six others surrounded him and came to drag him away into the misty darkness, but we saw their outlines, as well as... "DADDY!" Meg wailed, seeing with me as her father was torn to pieces.

"Go, Meg!" I yelled, taking her hand and leading her away, away from the chaos and leaving Herbert West to be strangled to death by Hill's intestine, or maybe killed by one of the re-animated still there...and the work with him.

 **Oh, noooo, Dan, you left Herbert to die - and the work with him! That's another twist I added, and there are more surprises in the finale on the way, so don't lose hope, ladies and gents. I love Herbert West to death, but it never hurts to do something new.**

 **But is it REALLY the end of the Re-Animator? Read the end and find out!**


	8. For Love

Chapter Eight

For Love

One of the naked zombies roaming free about the same level – the shotgun victim – was chasing us down the hallway for the elevator. The lights overhead were flashing because another had been tugging at the electrical cables inside the morgue. Mist was beginning to cloud the hallway that someone would eventually ring the fire alarm.

The zombie chased me down, targeting me for kill, while Meg tried to get it off me until we tackled to the floor, the thing getting on top of me with its hands wrapped around my neck, but thankfully I managed to get my fingers to its undamaged eye and gouged it out so it fell dead to its side, and I was free. The eye in my hands was gooey and sickened me to throwing it aside.

"Come on!" Meg jumped up and down frantically before turning and running into the elevator. I got on in after her and pushed the UP button so the doors began to close, and then she jumped onto me and kissed me long and hard.

"We made it," she breathed, breaking it only for me to lean in and return it afterwards.

"Yeah," I agreed, smiling down at her, although the extreme terror I'd witnessed was still there, and I knew she was feeling it, too. We had gotten away with our lives, but we had to get away from the site before the police came and swarmed. By now they had to be surrounding the hospital; we barely made it out of the elevator and through a fire exit, getting to my car unscathed.

I had us into the street, barely keeping to the limit. Meg was sitting tense beside me, unable to speak now, so I had to be the one to break it. "We're going to pack up and get out as soon as possible," I promised her.

She looked at me then. "And go where?" I knew she would be upset leaving this place where she'd been born and grown up, same with me. But too much had happened this week, and we were the only ones left who knew the truth. Herbert West had probably died back there, and I wanted nothing more to do with that grotesque experience again.

"Anywhere but here," I answered. "We'll go somewhere far from here, transfer to another school together and do what we do best."

"You know it won't change what happened to Daddy back there, right?" she reminded me. I sighed, silently and sarcastically thanking her for the reminder.

"Yeah," was all I said until we got to my house. But before we could unbuckle and get out, she reached over and took my face into her hands again for another kiss; that kiss warmed me and brought me to life once again, in a positive way in contrast to that horrible green stuff I'd rather forget about. "I love you," I whispered.

She smiled up at me. "I love you, too."

And that was exactly why I gave up this terrible start to the quest to defeat death: for love.

~o~

It's been five years, but I still remember it all like it was yesterday. Both Meg and I went to therapy without trying to give away the entire truth because no one would have believed us. We moved to San Francisco where I applied for a scholarship and graduated with. Meg and I lived in the big city where we started fresh and made a family like we always wanted. Just shortly after I graduated, Meg gave birth to our daughter, Kaylee, now two years old.

We live in a Mediterranean-inspired neighborhood not too far away from the city, where I have established a practice of my own with my great credentials. So far I've managed a perfect success rate, but whenever I lost a patient, it reminded me of that night I failed to save a certain mad scientist who had wanted to kill death.

Every time I remembered that night – called the "Miskatonic Massacre" by journalists in Arkham – I think of my failure to save Herbert, and I was surprised that Meg showed a small amount of sympathy; I always knew that she was still a human being when it came to a person's life, no matter what they did. But there was no way our daughter could know any of these things.

We had a real wedding ceremony on the beach during the summer before my final year, and my wife had been in a more lavish gown than the first had been, even though she wore her hair the same as she did on our secret night, the same pearls and the ring I gave her for the public to see, the diamonds brightly shining in the sun and in the same way as her eyes. Her ballgown was delicately placed with embroidered lace on tulle, sparkling with Swarovski crystals. My heart thundered the whole time, seeing how happy she was when we shared a public kiss as husband and wife finally. No more secrets to hide, not that we did when we first came to California.

Sunny California, where the sun beat down with happiness.

But then one blissful night, it was wrecked once again.

Meg and Kaylee were out like logs when I was up late one night, just enjoying a peaceful night for myself when the door was knocked on a couple times. Frowning, I wondered who it could be at ten at night. But when I opened the door, I was greeted with a face I _never_ wished to see again.

"West," I stated coldly, shocked.

"Cain," he responded, equally cool. "Surprised?"

"You have no idea." I stepped outside and closed the door so Meg wouldn't hear me and this unwanted "guest". "What the hell are you doing at my house and _how_ did you find me?"

He smirked. "You were easy to find, Daniel. Considering that you...abandoned me and left me to die." His face contorted ugly then.

"I couldn't, because of the fumes. How are you alive?"

"Hill didn't have the guts to kill me," Herbert stated mysteriously, that smile returning. "And I barely made it out with my work intact only to find that you and the Mrs. Cain left without a proper goodbye."

I growled at him, moving down to take him by the front of his shirt collar. "You ruined our lives; we had a right to leave Arkham. Get the hell out of here and don't come back."

He swatted my hands away. "And go where, Dan? Back to where I was almost in prison for the last five years?"

I blinked; he was ALMOST in jail? H-how? I was about to ask when he continued. "They eventually pointed the fingers to me because of what they found of me, but I was barely able to escape and go with you and Meg, but you two vanished. I had to get away because I knew they would come for me. I changed my name and established an identity in LA not too long ago, still wondering where you both could be. But then I learned of your...successful practice," he finished.

I looked behind me, seeing no trace of Meg awaking to find us out here. Yet. "You better go before my wife wakes up."

Herbert laughed and shook his head. It was then that I noticed how he hadn't changed much since I last saw him, how he looked like he hadn't been hurt by a hair. "I won't until I tell you that I found the missing piece of the puzzle."

I gasped; was he serious? "Please tell me you haven't still been chasing after this."

"Afraid so. But listen, Dan, I have it. Right here." He reached into his medical bag and showed the glow of the re-agent, but it wasn't that he showed me. He held in his palm a small bulb with a flashing spark of blue light. I blinked; what _was_ that? "The re-agent brings the dead back, but _this_ gives the subject true life."

"What is that?" If this was some kind of a joke...

"The NPE, or nanoplasmic energy. A neutral energy one would know better as the soul. I'll stop by your hospital tomorrow for a little...demonstration." He gave me a sickening smile I remembered all too well. "Trust me, Dan, you won't refuse my offer in becoming my partner again."

I seethed and turned to go back inside to join my family. "I won't ever be your partner again, West. Your sick experiments nearly tore my life apart. You've been on your own all this time, so you'll make do without me." I barely heard him mutter that we would see when I closed the door and locked it behind me. I pressed my back against it and took a few breaths to calm myself down.

Herbert West...he was alive. But I saw him get strangled by Hill's super-charged intestines; was this all a dream? I closed my eyes and reopened them so I could walk back into the bedroom to rejoin my wife, our daughter sleeping soundly in the next room. But I didn't sleep well that night. I prayed this was all a bad dream that I would only wake up from.

 **So he's baaaack! (snickers evilly) I originally had the idea of adding a final paragraph end where he showed Dan the demonstration, and just like that since we all know Dan has a heart, he forgives him and allows him back, but at the same time it felt rushed without development, so I hope this was enough. Before anyone asks, I don't know if I would ever do a sequel because I refuse to get anyone's hopes up only to crush them if nothing works out. One rule is NEVER do a garbage-filled sequel that doesn't stay true to the original.**

 **So, MEG'S ALIVE! I couldn't let her die in this story. In the movie, I know she was an annoying woman, but she didn't deserve to die. And being a woman myself, it's in our nature to be that way. Dan didn't deserve his heart broken that way either. I gave this tale a happy ending because I WANTED to. :D Also, no I wouldn't let Herbert die; he's the Re-Animator, after all. He's survived all three movies, and thanks to "Beyond Re-Animator" for this ending twist to the first movie. Overall, I'm really proud of this story and I hope it was the experience.**

 **My next story will be yet another retelling, however it will not only be the ending of the first movie, but of the second movie Bride of Re-Animator. Meg survives the end instead of Dan, and she becomes Herbert West's unwilling assistant in his place.**


End file.
